The Prince George Spruce Kings defeat the West Kelowna Warriors 5-2 Thursday night.
Warriors Head Coach and General Manager Brandon West did something a little fun to start the game in Northern BC. For the first time we got to see Chase Dubois, Brandon Dent, and Mason Richey take the opening faceoff, a trio that played their midget hockey in the City of Prince George as a part of the Cariboo Cougars(BCMML). There would only be one goal in the first and it would be an ugly one from the Spruce Kings Ben Brar who flipped the puck at a sharp angle beating Connor Hopkins to make it 1-0.
The second period the Warriors were able to kill off another penalty and create a couple more offensive chances, one of them a shot from the point by Garrett Ewert which would be batted out of mid air by Lucas Cullen who was able to score his 24th of the season to tie it up at one. The Spruce Kings were quick to answer back and regain the lead with a two on one goal by Ben Brar scoring his second of the game making it 2-1. It looked as if the period was about to end 2-1, but the Spruce Kings continued the pressure in the Warriors zone. It would be a pass from Spruce Kings forward Patrick Cozzi to a wide open Ben Poisson to extend the lead to 3-1 heading into the dressing room. After 40 minutes Warriors goaltender Connor Hopkins would already face 28 shots on goal.
The Warriors needed a push after being outplayed by the Spruce Kings in the second period, but the Spruce Kings were able to intercept passes in the neutral zone maintaining puck possession throughout. The Spruce Kings were able to score off a deflection to make it 4-1 which put the Warriors in a hole with only 9 minutes to go in the game. The Warriors would answer back on the power play with Chase Dubois scoring his 20th of the season to cut the lead back to two, but it wasn’t enough. Spruce Kings forward Ben Brar put the game out of reach with his 3rd of the game ending it with a final score of 5-2.
Shots on goal 45-28 in favor of the Spruce Kings.
3 Stars
- PG F Ben Brar (3G)
- PG D Max Coyle (1A)
- WKW F Lucas Cullen (1G-1A)